The Letter
"Yugi!" Sugokuru called up the stairs. "There's a letter in the mail for you. It's in English and written on some weird stuff that feels like parchment. But who would use parchment these days?"
"Dunno," Yugi replied, coming down the stairs. "Someone who's writing to Yami maybe?"
"No, look at the address."
Yugi came over to peer at the letter over his grandfather's shoulder. It was indeed addressed to him.
Yugi Moto
Upstairs Bedroom
Turtle Game Shop
Domino
Japan
A slow blinking was the only sign that Yugi was indeed still alive, and thinking hard about something. Finally he decided that the letter couldn't possibly be a threat, and that if it were it would have been sent to Yami instead. The seal showed a coat of arms with four animals on it, a lion, a snake, a badger, and a raven. As his grandfather had said, it was indeed parchment.
Cautiously Yugi opened the letter, being careful not to break the seal as he did so. Inside were three pieces of paper. He pulled out the first one and began to read:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Moto,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than August 15th because of the lateness of your discovery.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy headmistress
Yugi stared at the letter for a few seconds more before passing it to his grandfather. They weren't unused to strange magical occurrences, seeing as his yami had only been separated from him a few weeks ago, but he had never thought that he might have any magic. He considered this for a moment before deciding that his magic had probably been wakened by the Millennium Puzzle, and that having dormant magic was most probably the reason why he had been able to complete it. It certainly made more sense than their previous conjecture that it was his friendship with Joey that had allowed the Puzzle to be put together. Friendship was important sure, but it wasn't magical. And his friends sure didn't seem like the friends that he had wanted them to be.
As soon as Yami had separated from him his so-called 'friends' just seemed to drift away from him. It was like the only reason they had been with him in the first place was his yami. Or at least, that was the case with Honda, Duke, and the duelists that he had beaten. Even if he was just as good at dueling as Yami was no-one seemed to believe that. It seemed as if just because he looked small and innocent he couldn't possibly be as good a duelist as he really was. You could almost see them discarding the idea that it had been Yugi who had beaten them and seizing upon Yami as a convenient excuse. At least Jou and Anzu had stayed with him. They had been his friends from the start, and Anzu had been the one to notice his change first. It was nice to know that they would stick by him no matter what.
Yugi shrugged and pulled out the next letter. The bit about the owl had been slightly strange, but he figured that it would be explained somewhere, and if it wasn't he could always call Isis and ask for her help. The holder of the Millennium Tauk always seemed to know about everything that was connected to magic, and if she didn't know it then she could use the Tauk to find out.
'Dear Mr. Moto,' the letter began,
'I'm sure that the existence of magic must come as a shock to you, as I assure you it has to us, so this letter has been bespelled to take you to the Burrow, home of a well-known magical family, where you will stay over the summer. I apologize if it seems abrupt to you, but the Dark Lord is once again becoming a threat and all precautions must be taken. You have three days to get ready. At the end of those three days you must be touching both the letter and any luggage you wish to take with you, and you will be transported to the Burrow.
'Please do not try to avoid this. If you do an alert will be sounded and one of the Ministry Wizards will be sent to collect you and ensure your safe arrival at the Burrow. Please understand that this is for your safety, and that I would not be forcing this on you if it were not necessary. I thank you for your cooperation.
Yours sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
Yugi stared at the letter before handing it to his grandfather. "Oh well." He said realistically, "At least I won't have to worry about sending them an owl now. And it doesn't look like I can get out of it so I'd better go tell my friends."
"Don't forget, you do have to pack sometime in the three days you've been given." His grandfather told him severely. To others it might have seemed like he was taking this remarkably well, but having your soul trapped inside a card does tend to have the effect of convincing you that magic is real. And if it had been a threat Isis would surely have warned them of it. The Tauk's power was to see into the future after all.